QUOTE SHEET
Real Monarchs 6-2 Orange County SC
Zions Bank Stadium; Herriman, UT
October 26, 2019
Interim Head Coach Jamison Olave
On the team’s performance:
“I am so proud of this team. I said to them, that this is the first time ever that we’ve won in the first round of the playoffs, and that was thanks to them. They left it all on the field. The way they played and the way they embraced the game, that’s why we got the result tonight.”
On the difference today:
“The way that we ended the season was the difference. If you look back, we played big teams, and the team realized that we could play with anyone in this league. Playing at home, that was an extra motivation. With the motivation that we finished the regular season, that helped us a lot today.”
On the group’s confidence:
“We know that, whether it is Phoenix or Austin, it will be a tough game. We have to go game by game. We will enjoy today, and tomorrow we will need to work to prepare for that game. We know that it will be a hard game to keep advancing.”
On the overall effort:
“That’s what we expect from them, and we talked about it before the game. (Coach) Matt gave them a little personal history before the game that happened to him. I think that had an impact on the players and they came out with a great attitude. They knew there was pressure from the past. Today, they took care of business.”
On the meaning of this win:
“Last year, we played really well against Reno, too. We lost in the last minute. I could say what we learned from last year was to be focused for 90 minutes. I said to the players before the game, “Focus makes the difference.” If we stay concentrated for 90 minutes, 120 minutes, whatever it takes, it will make the difference. The players did a great job today.”
Forward Maikel Chang
On how it feels to win:
“Very good. We have worked hard all season, so that we could play this game at home. Playing at home gives us confidence in the way we play, and we want to continue playing this way. We want to get to the final and become champions.”
On the team spirit:
“I think that this group feels very good, because it is a special group. It’s not as important for me to get the goal, as it is to get the win. Our confidence is high and now we can really try to get to the Western Conference Final.”
On the confidence to win the Championship:
“I think that that is the ultimate goal of the season. We need to take this opportunity and use the confidence to lift us up. This is just one game that we’ve shown what we can do. We have won in Phoenix and Reno, and now the whole team knows that we have to fight for the final.”
Midfielder Jack Blake
On Maikel Chang:
“Chang’s a good friend of mine, he’s a fantastic guy on and off the field. You can see it when he’s playing in our games, the effect he has on the people around us on the team. His statistics speak for themselves this year. It’s not just him, it’s the whole team. We’re a collective group, over the last month or so we’ve come together, built some momentum, and we deserve it today.”
On the form heading into the postseason:
“I don’t think I’ve ever played on a team that has as much confidence or momentum as we do right now. To go and look and that schedule that we had the last five or six games, top teams. To come out and get fantastic results, like I said, we put all the hard work in all season. It’s a credit to the coaches, everyone involved, the staff. Everyone has come together and the performance speaks for itself.”
On the win:
“I think everyone that was involved last year felt this one. I’m so proud of the boys. The hard work we put in, day in and day out, no one takes any days off. We’ve been grinding all year and we’re getting what we deserve.”
On the next round:
“I said to the boys before the game, ‘I don’t care who we play, we have the capability of beating anyone.’ It would be nice to go back to Phoenix and beat them again.”
Defender Tate Schmitt
On his reaction of first franchise playoff win:
“It feels really good. We worked all year to get that home spot and we wanted to show the fans that the reason we got that home sport was because we’ve had their support the entire year. It was nice to play, here, at home and be able to get over the slump of losing in the first round, and it was exciting for the team to come out, get the win, and continue the playoff run.”
On his best contribution, today (of a goal-line block, 3 assists, and a goal):
“The best play was probably the goal-line clearance because it doesn’t happen very often, but also because of the effort and the will it takes to be a defender and learn from the other guys day-in-day-out. If we play well defensively, we know that we will score because we are confident in our players up top and we know we have the talent.”
On taking advantage of being up a man:
“It was important that we stayed patient and swinging the ball around. With Orange County being down a man, we had to remain patient by moving the ball in order to make them tired, and we felt that once we did that, we could keep going at them with our attack.”
On Tate’s confidence in the team going forward:
“We are in good form, right now, and we know that we can continue that with games like these and training. Each game is a battle and a new opportunity. We just need to take it one game at a time and prepare for our opponents. We need to learn about them: what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. Then, we just need to take it one game at a time.”
